Let's Eat Out

Welcome to my restaurant adventures. Rather than posting my original photos on rating sites (you know the ones), I decided to start my own blog. I have loads of great restaurant food photos. It’ll take me a while, but I’ll share photos and basic info on my favorite restaurants, and a few places that may not be revisited and why.

Tiffany’s started out in an 1100 square foot space in
Columbia Mall in 1977, selling cakes and pastries. In 1990 they moved to the Two Notch Road
location, and eventually added “the eatery” for breakfast and lunch. On a recent stay in the Carolinas, I was
introduced to Tiffany’s by one of my long-time friends. What a little jewel! We had lunch and took home some
pastries.

Quiche
of the day with spinach and tomato, served with fruit salad and pasta salad

Tiffany’s has a soup of the day and quiche of the day, along
with a respectable menu, offering salads, soups, sandwiches, wraps, panini, and
burgers. In addition to three salad
selections featuring chicken breast, Tiffany’s has chicken salad and tuna salad
served on a bed of greens. Tiffany’s
salad is served in a taco shell bowl.

One of the greatest perks of dining at a bakery eatery is
the variety of great store-baked breads on which they build their sandwich
menu. Tiffany’s features sandwiches on
sun-dried tomato bread, ciabatta, baguette, hoagie rolls, German rye, wheat
bread, buns, and sun-dried tomato tortillas.

Panini include a Cubano with pork, cheesesteak, turkey, and
veggie panini. There is a Greek chicken
wrap and a Southwest chicken wrap, and a shrimp Po-boy. Sandwiches include a classic club on sun-dried
tomato bread, two options for turkey sandwich, and a ham sandwich. Want something a little different? Try the French dip, or go with the veggie
sandwich. Want something genius? Go for the BLT- Bacon, Lettuce, and Fried Green Tomato sandwich.

Bacon,
Lettuce & Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

Grill offerings include a Rueben, a classic hamburger, a
mushroom Swiss burger, and a patty melt.
There are two vegetarian burgers- a portabella burger and a black bean
burger.

The breakfast menu offers one- or two-egg breakfasts with
sausage or bacon. Choose among Western,
Greek, or Tiffany’s omelet with ham, bacon, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and
Swiss. For vegetarians, they offer a
spinach and mushroom omelet with tomatoes and Swiss. Several breakfast sandwiches are available,
served with grits. They also offer
French toast.

Beautiful
and delicious petit fours

The pastry counter is a busy place! I think they’re well known for their petit
fours, which were crazy delicious. They
are definitely well known for their cakes.
The website has a huge picture gallery of custom decorated cakes.

Breakfast
served all day, with all the usual and expected items, such as bacon, sausage,
eggs and grits, pancakes and waffles.
Country ham and sugar cured ham available. Hash brown casserole and fried apples offered
with many breakfast selections.

Most
menu items are less than $10, with a few pricier items such as steak and
seafood.

Cracker Barrel was founded in 1969, with the first Old Country
Store & restaurant opening in Lebanon, Tennessee. There are now 630 locations spread across 42
states. While they initially appeared
along interstate highways, they have started to spring up “inland”.

I first experienced Cracker Barrel in the 80s, at the Bush
River Road/I-20 location in Columbia, SC.
I have since eaten at a couple dozen Cracker Barrels on both sides of
the Mississippi. I served in the Air
Force for 20 years, and made many trips of up to 1200 miles. I’ve also made many trips from SC to the
Charlotte, NC airport. Cracker Barrel
plays a big role in my road trips.

Sirloin Steak, hashbrown casserole, macaroni &

cheese,
fried okra

To this day, I travel like a child- I’m bored, I need to go
to the bathroom, Are we there yet?
Cracker Barrel is my reward when traveling. When I was in graduate school in Maryland, I
chose my motel based on proximity to a Cracker Barrel. I would usually set out about 7 or 8 pm with
my dog, and drive about 200 miles, then stop for the night. I’d have my Cracker Barrel breakfast the next
morning before hitting the road for SC. When
I moved from overseas back to Illinois, I had breakfast in at Cracker Barrel
every day while house hunting. It would
usually hold me until dinner (that’s supper in the South).

Breakfast plate with Sugar Cured Ham, scrambled eggs, hashbrown

casserole, grits with sawmill milk gravy, biscuit

The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurants have a huge
selection. In addition to the large
lunch and dinner menu, they offer breakfast all day until closing. There are many shamefully large breakfast
platters. One of my old favorites is the
Sunrise Sampler, which boasts a piece of smoked sausage, a piece of
thick-sliced bacon, and country ham or sugar cured ham. It is accompanied by 2 eggs cooked to order,
grits and gravy, biscuits & jelly, fried apples, and hashbrown
casserole. My original favorite was the
Country Boy Breakfast, which used to offer the choice of marinated tenderloin
steak, which was fabulous. The tenderloin
is no longer a choice, but you can get sirloin steak, ham or pork chop.

Eggs in a Basket with sugar cured ham

and hashbrown
casserole

My new favorite breakfast is the Eggs in a Basket. You get 2 slices of sourdough with an egg
cracked into a hole cut in the center. It
is served with sausage or bacon, but I got mine with ham. You also get hashbrown casserole or fried apples. They also offer pancakes and French toast,
which my brother sometimes gets.

Apple Streusel French Toast with

scrambled eggs and bacon

One of the most popular lunch and dinner meal choices is the
Country Dinner Plate. You choose a meat from
over 10 choices, and 2 sides with over 20 to choose from. All orders at Cracker Barrel come with
biscuits &/or cornbread.

My early favorite Cracker Barrel meal was the “vegetable
plate”, which was a choice of 4 sides. I
always got dumplins, pinto beans, turnip greens, and fried apples. Over the years however, I’ve had almost all
of the meat selections. My favorites are
the fish and chicken n’ dumplins.

Many of the country plate meats are available as Fancy Fixins,
which is a meat with 3 sides. The
catfish, trout, chicken tenders, and dumplins are available, as well as
meatloaf, roast beef, country fried steak, chicken fried chicken, steaks,
haddock, and a sampler platter. My
sister is a fan of the roast beef, as are scores of others because it often
runs out! It’s very good, but sometimes
not lean enough for me, and sometimes (I guess when it’s running out) it’s a
small portion. My sister and brother
have ordered the sirloin steak dinner several times.

Fancy Fixins platter of Sirloin Steak, hashbrown

casserole,
corn and fried okra

I recently ordered the Sampler Platter, which serves up
meatloaf, chicken and dumplins and sugar cured ham, and 3 sides of your choice. I ordered the platter 12 years or so ago, and
was not impressed with the meatloaf. My
taste must have changed, because I enjoyed it this time.

Fancy Fixins Sampler Platter: Chicken n’ Dumplins,

meatloaf, sugar cured
ham, baby carrots,

pinto beans, and turnip greens

As I mentioned before, I have mixed feelings about the Roast
Beef dinner. It’s kinda my favorite, but
every time I get a big glob of fat (obscured by the gravy), I lay off of it for
a while. My favorite Fancy Fixins
platter is currently the haddock platter.
I think it is a more recent offering, not on the early menu. It is lightly coated in a flour and cornmeal mixture
and pan fried. It is always a large
piece of fish.

Fancy Fixins platter with Haddock, baked potato,

green
beans, and fried apples

Cracker Barrel offers daily lunch specials at $5.99. A house salad with grilled chicken and choice
of baked potato or soup is available daily.
The special Monday is baked chicken and dressing, Tuesday is meatloaf
and mashed potatoes, Wednesday is chicken pot pie, and Thursday is roasted
turkey and dressing. Monday, Tuesday and
Thursday specials come with 1 side.

Weekend specials are served all day. The Friday special is Fish Fry. You have a choice of cod or catfish. It is served with steak fries and slaw, but
they are usually willing to serve any 2 sides.
The Saturday special is Chicken and Rice, with 2 sides. The Sunday special is Homestyle Chicken,
which is 2 fried boneless chicken breasts, which are usually very large. It also comes with 2 sides.

My current favorite Cracker Barrel meal hands-down is the
Saturday Dinner special, Chicken and Rice.
I get it with the vegetable of the day, baby limas, and baby
carrots.

Saturday special, Chicken & Rice, baby limas, baby
carrots

Did you save room for dessert? I virtually never do! Once I asked for a carryout container as soon
as they brought my meal. I immediately
put my biscuits and half of my meat and sides in the box. Then I had dessert.

Baked Apple Dumplin with vanilla bean ice cream,

topped with
apple pecan streusel

Depending on what time and day you go to Cracker Barrel, you
may encounter a substantial wait. You
can pass the time on the large porch, enjoying one of the large rocking chairs. You can always browse in the Country
Store. They offer a substantial array of
goods, including old-style candy, home décor items, old-style toys, and
clothing items. I’ve bought several
patriotic-themed shirts at Cracker Barrel Country Store. Whenever I wear them, I always get
compliments.

The Williams family opened their first Lizard’s Thicket
restaurant in a renovated house on Broad River Road in 1977. As I recall, it was in the area of the
Forestry Commission, SLED, and prison.
My family must have started patronizing the Thicket in that first year
or two. Then as now, the Williams family
pride themselves on “offering authentic regional Southern home cooking that
families have enjoyed for generations”.

There are now 15 Lizard’s Thicket restaurants, mainly in the
Greater Columbia Area of South Carolina, and one in Florence, SC. There are 7 restaurants in Columbia, 2 in West
Columbia, 1 in Cayce, 2 in Lexington, 1 in Irmo, and 1 in Blythewood.

The Thickets now have large printed menus with color photos,
but their primary meat, side, and dessert choices remain on large boards,
usually several in each restaurant, reminiscent of the original chalk
boards.On a recent visit, the Irmo
Lizard’s Thicket offered a choice of 10 meats, 25 sides, and 10 desserts.

Lizard’s Thicket Menu Board

There are also daily specials. As of this writing, the following specials
are listed on the Lizard’s Thicket website:

Sunday: Turkey & Dressing, Southern-Style Pot
Roast

Monday: Chicken & Dumplings

Tuesday: Fried Chicken Livers

Wednesday: Meat Loaf

Thursday: Pulled Pork BBQ, Liver & Onions

Friday: Grilled Boneless Chicken Breast

Saturday: BBQ Chicken

One of my early favorites at the Thicket was the beef
stew. It is one of my mom’s favorites. The broth is nice and thick, like brown gravy. I find it to be far superior to the Cracker
Barrel beef stew, which has a thin, soup-like broth.

Beef Stew with sweet potato fries, $5.99

Over the years, the country fried steak has been one of my
top favorite meat selections. It is also
one of my sister’s favorites. Countryfried steak is battered and fried beef cubed steak, that is then simmered in
the pot with gravy for an hour or two.
(Chicken fried steak has a heavy coating of batter that is crispy
fried. It’s very popular in Texas, but I
don’t care for it at all.)

Country Fried Steak, green beans, tomatoes & okra,

macaroni
& cheese

Tied for favorite for me is the fried flounder. My sister and I often debate between the flounder
and cubed steak, then divide and conquer.
One of us orders cubed steak, the other flounder, then we share.

Fried Flounder, baby limas, macaroni & cheese,

squash
casserole

A more recent favorite for my sister is the baked
chicken. Ironically, she has not ordered
it lately. She also likes the fried
chicken, leg and thigh. Mom is a fan of
fried chicken, always the breast. Mom is
also a fan of a good fried pork chop.

Fried Chicken leg & thigh, squash casserole, cabbage,

fried okra

Fried Chicken breast, sweet potato fries,

cabbage $6.99

Fried Pork Chop, cabbage, dressing, baby limas

My cousin ordered the daily special last week, the grilled
boneless chicken breast. A couple months
ago, my sister and I ordered the daily special, the hamburger steak. It was huge, and very good.

Friday special, Grilled Boneless Chicken Breast, cabbage,

squash casserole, $6.99

Daily special a couple months ago, 12 oz

Hamburger Steak with grilled onions, French fries,

squash casserole, baby limas

As you can see from the pictures, my family definitely has
favorite sides. Mom and I often get the
baby limas. All of us like the squash
casserole and cabbage. We also
frequently get the fried okra and mac & cheese. Mom likes the sweet potato fries and
dressing.

Mom’s Sweet Potato Fries with powdered sugar

My family most often dines at the Irmo location, and one of the original locations on Broad River Road, near Dutch Square Mall. The Irmo location is especially convenient to the area where Mom and I have our routine medical appointments. We especially look forward to Lizard’s Thicket after fasting blood work! My dad has breakfast at the downtown location after his fasting blood work. It’s good too, but for breakfast I prefer Cracker Barrel.

The Zesto chain was founded by LAM Phelan in 1945. The Zest-O-Mat frozen custard machine was
crucial to the evolution of this national chain. Fast forward, and there are still a fair few
Zesto’s scattered around the country.
All are now independently owned and operated.

Interestingly the website for SC Zestos does not list the
Newberry Zesto.It lists two in Columbia
and the Chapin Zesto.My mom and sister
tried the Chapin Zesto and were not impressed at all.

Zesto was likely the first ‘fast food joint’ in my hometown
of Newberry, SC. I couldn’t find a good
history of the Newberry location of Zesto, but Road Arch website said it
emerged in ‘the 1950s’. My family used
to go to Zesto’s a couple times a month on Sundays when I was a child. We were a working class family, and our Zesto
trips were about as close as we came to eating out on a regular basis. We usually had milkshakes, sundaes, or banana
splits, but occasionally had burgers. We
chose ice cream treats or burgers, but couldn’t have both. My favorite selections were banana milkshake,
banana split, and strawberry sundae. I
also enjoyed the occasional burger.

Newberry Zesto's 3-piece dark fried chicken snack

Back then there was no McDonald’s, no Burger King, no Wendy’s. We enjoyed our trips to Zesto for many years
before Hardee’s, the first fast food chain restaurant came to Newberry. The other chains were several years behind
Hardee’s. I think it had to do with
population numbers. In 1960, there were
about 8200 residents in the city of Newberry, and about 29,400 in Newberry
County. In 1980, we were just under
10,000 city and just over 31,000 county.
Today Newberry still sits at just about 10,300 city, but has climbed to
37,800 county residents. Now we have at
least a dozen fast food burger and chicken places. Newberry even has several “fine dining”
restaurants!

Newberry Zesto's Cheeseburger, which comes with chili

During the 60s, our Zesto had a small air conditioned entry,
where you placed your order at the window.
You could see the food prep and cook area. The lady who usually took the orders sat at a
stool, and was scary stern looking. She was
the great aunt of my neighbors, but never seemed amused by anything. There was a round cement table with cement
benches outside, but we always retreated with our food to the car. Not much has changed, but the cement table
has been replaced by a few metal mesh tables.
We always get carry out though.

Fries

Somewhere over the years, during the time I was away from SC
I think, the Zesto closed for a few years.
They are now back and going strong.
I’d say they are now most popular for their burgers and fried
chicken. My mom and sister have burgers
fairly regularly. They’re very
affordable. When I’m home visiting, we
try to work in a few burgers. What I
love about Zesto burgers is the chili. And
it’s not an extra. All burgers come with
chili unless you request otherwise.

Fried Onion Rings

My sister also likes their fried chicken. We like their fries and onion rings. They recently started offering fried okra,
which is also good. They offer a pretty
good selection of sandwiches, which is probably nice, as well as affordable for
local workers.

Fried Okra

I tried a chocolate shake a couple months ago, but was
completely unimpressed. I like my
chocolate shakes beige. This one was
really dark, rich chocolaty looking, but strangely I did not pick up a strong
chocolate taste from it. I’ll stick to
Rush’s and Arby’s for my chocolate shakes, and stick to Zesto chili
cheeseburgers. I would be curious to try
a banana split though!

Shealy’s Bar-B-Que has been around since 1969, which I’m
guessing is about the time that my family started eating there. I definitely remember going with my parents
and grandparents when I was a child. The
restaurant is located in Batesburg-Leesville, SC, which was a 30 mile trip on
rural roads and highways for us. That’s
was and remains 30 miles of anticipation.
Shealy’s is always on my short list of things to do when I visit
family.

Shealy’s is family-owned and operated. The matriarch, Mrs. Shealy passed away some
years back, but the restaurant has maintained great food, in the tradition of
the Southern home-cooked meal. They have
a long newspaper article framed and hanging on the wall, outlining Shealy’s
history, highlighting their legendary food, and marveling over their legions of
devoted diners. I’m guessing there have
been other articles over the years.

Prices are reasonable at about $10 for lunch and a couple
bucks more for dinner. Monday prices are
discounted. Their buffet always has BBQ
pork with mustard sauce or pepper vinegar sauce, fried chicken, rice, hash, and
milk gravy. They also usually have fried
fat back, and often have chicken livers.
I have been when they have “pulley bones”, and set them aside separate
from the rest of the fried chicken.

Hash & rice, Bar-B-Que pork, chicken liver, liver nips,

baby limas, green beans, greens, and fatback

Plenty of places serve good barbecue, but for my family it’s
Shealy’s sides that move them to the top of the heap.They usually have green beans, cream corn,
and baby limas.They often have greens,
noodles, and sweet potatoes.Sometimes
they have baked macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes.They also have a salad and dessert bar, and
soft serve ice cream.

Shealy’s is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays. They have daily specials most
days, in addition to the usual buffet offerings. Tuesdays they have seafood at dinner (that’s
supper in the South), Thursdays is country fried steak at dinner. Friday they serve ribs all day, and fried
fish at lunch (that’s dinner in the South).
The website lists “Chef’s Choice” on Mondays and “BBQ Country Buffet” on
Saturday. I’ve not been on Monday or
Saturday in years, but I’m assuming Saturday is the regular buffet items with
no special additions. Although no longer
listed on the website, historically they have had liver nips at lunch on
Thursdays. I was there last week on
Thursday, and they had liver nips.

Liver Nips, or Liver Dumplings, with beef,

cooked in beef broth

You get to serve yourself from the buffet, without the staff
hovering over you. They do however
“direct traffic” when the restaurant is crowded. They will make sure diners know they can go
down either side of the hot line, and they help diners seeking seconds “break
line” with the incoming diners.

My mom often gets the fried chicken, but I never get
chicken. For a born and bred Southerner,
I’m not much of a fried chicken devotee, and I would never sacrifice belly room
on chicken. I always get the mustard
sauce pork barbecue. I think their hash
is pretty good, but I always get the rice and milk gravy. When they have liver nips, I always get
them. Green beans and baby limas are
always on my plate. I also find that
their greens are really good. I’m not
sure if they are collards, mustard greens, or turnip greens, but I have never
been disappointed. I sometimes get a tad
of corn, but to me, their corn is not really cream corn. It may have flour or cornstarch to thicken,
but it is just frozen or canned corn that has been thickened. It is not cut and scraped from the cob like
Grandma’s. Be warned, they seem to put
sugar in all their vegetables.

Fried pork cutlet, rice & gravy, baby limas, and green beans

The salad bar is respectable, but I usually don’t waste
belly room there either, except the bread and butter pickles, and carrot
salad.As often as not, I don’t get
anything from the dessert bar.They usually
have some type of fruit cobbler, and some type of sheet cake.I usually get a little peach cobbler when
they have it.They typically have
multiple cold &/or layered desserts, which seldom tempt me.They usually have what I call “steak house
banana pudding”, which I abhor.For me,
banana pudding is always made with cooked custard, not instant vanilla pudding.It’s all about the vanilla wafer
texture.

I suppose I should say a little bit about the seating and ambience.Nothing fancy at all.They have some old license plates and such on
the walls.There are 3 large dining
areas.Long tables, much like those used
for a church social or family reunion, are lined up in long rows.In the main dining room where my family
usually sits, there are probably around 5 or 6 long tables laid end to end in
each row, and about 6 rows of tables.There is a certain logistic to sitting together with your group when it’s
crowded.We tend to go in a party of 3
to 6 of us, and head down each side of the table to sit across from each
other.To avoid the crowds, I recommend
going on a weekday for lunch, arriving when they open at 11:00.

Once you’re seated, a staffer will come and take your drink
order. We sit in the same area and have had
the same server for many years. They have
the basics of water, sodas, and tea. Their
sweet tea is very good.

The original building has small restrooms with two stalls
near the entrance where you pay, and the hot bar. The newer part of the building has another
large dining room, and additional restrooms.
In the halls on the way to the restrooms, they have a half dozen or so
pictures of Boykin Spaniels, the state dog of South Carolina. I’ve had two Boykins. They have a marvelous people-pleasing
temperament.

As you exit the building, they have a few things for sale,
such as their barbecue sauce. They
usually have Happy Home flavorings too.
If you requested anything to take home, such as Bar-B-Que pork or hash, it
will be waiting for you at the exit, where you will pay for them. I’ve bought pints or quarts of their carrot
salad. Recently we bought a quart of
liver nips, which they will not always sell you if they think they might run
out.